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BBC Learning English - Course - Upper-Intermediate - Unit 2 - Grammar Reference
BBC Learning English - Course - Upper-Intermediate - Unit 2 - Grammar Reference
Reported Speech
Meaning and use
If someone says something that you want to tell another person, you can report it using direct speech or reported speech.
In direct speech we use speech (or quotation) marks to show the exact words the person said.
"I’m hungry."
He says: "I’m hungry."
Say and tell are both reporting verbs. We use tell when we say who we are speaking to.
CORRECT: She says she loves chicken sandwiches. (We don’t know who the speaker is talking to.)
WRONG: She says me she loves chicken sandwiches. (We don’t use ‘me’ with the reporting verb ‘say’.)
If the reporting verb is in the present tense, then the reported statement stays in the present tense:
Direct speech
"He’s hungry", he says.
Reported speech
He says he is hungry.
If the reporting verb is in the past tense, we usually change the present form to a past form in reported speech.
Direct speech
"He’s hungry", he said.
Reported speech
He said he was hungry.
We can use that, but we can also miss it out and the meaning is the same.
She told me that she loved chicken sandwiches. > She told me she loved chicken sandwiches.
Form
In reported speech, we usually move the direct speech verb one step back in the past.
"I am going to go home" -> She said she was going to go home.
"I will go to the bank later" -> He said he would go to the bank later.
Notes
2) And you can't go further back in time than the past perfect, so it stays the same too:
“I must/mustn't wash my hair” -> She said she had to/didn't have to wash her hair.
5) We don’t change the verb in reported speech if the situation hasn’t changed, for example if it’s a fact or is generally true:
6) But we can use the past tense to show you're not certain the other person loves her/him – for example, the other person wasn’t telling the
truth
Questions
A direct question is:
A reported question is:
Form summary
Positive
"I love you." > He said he loved her.
"I’ve been working hard." > She told me that she’d been working hard.
Negative
"I didn’t have time to go shopping." > He said he hadn’t had time to go shopping. “I can’t talk to you." > She told me that she couldn’t
talk to me.
"I wouldn’t want to live in the country." > He said he wouldn’t want to live in the country.
Question
Short answers
Take note: facts and general truths We don’t change the verb in reported speech if the situation hasn’t changed, for example if it’s a fact or
is generally true. Compare:
She told me she loves me. (The speaker uses the present tense to show (s)he believes the other person still loves her/him now.)
She told me she loved me. (The speaker uses the past tense to show (s)he isn’t certain the other person loves her/him – for example, the
other person wasn’t telling the truth.)
The past perfect doesn’t change in reported speech because there isn’t a verb form further 'back in time'.
"I had never eaten sushi before I went to Japan." > 'She told me that she had never eaten sushi before she went to Japan.
"I know which way to go." -> He thought he knew which way to go.
"I stole the books." -> He admitted that he had stolen the books.
"Why doesn’t she like me?" -> He wondered why she didn’t like him.
Spoken English
Some contracted forms in reported speech can be difficult to hear, for example the past perfect and conditional. He asked who’d eaten the
cake. I told him he’d have to take the train. In the first example, the words ‘who’and ‘had’ become who’d. In the second example, ‘he’and
‘would’ become he’d. In both examples, two different words are shortened to just a /d/ sound. So, listen carefully for past tense contractions –
make sure you get them right.